‘Bok fans need to grow up’
British rugby writer James While says Springbok fans have become unbearable online.
In a Planet Rugby column, While accused Bok supporters of being “combative, confrontational, and boring” on social media – saying they’ve turned South Africa’s 2023 World Cup triumph into “a weapon of grievance”.
While argued that Bok fans online have developed “a chronic need to live through reflected glory” and to “rewrite history with the ink of grievance and the brush of self-congratulation”.
“It’s not pride, nor passion, nor patriotism,” he wrote. “It’s the chronic need to bask in the achievements of others as if they were personal triumphs, to weaponise victory as both shield and sword.”
While said that instead of celebrating the Boks’ one-point wins over France, England and New Zealand at the 2023 World Cup for what they were – heroic and narrow escapes – online supporters have turned them into “proof of divine right and destiny”.
“It is time to grow up, time to let go of the grievance, time to stop living through reflected glory, because the rest of the rugby world is watching, and we are not impressed,” While wrote.
He added that “the referees are always against them, the media is always biased,” and that Bok fans’ refusal to acknowledge luck or fine margins “has become tiresome.”
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However, the columnist made a clear distinction between Bok fans in the stands and those on X.
“Thank God their Twitterati aren’t with them,” he said. “In person, South African fans are warm, generous and deeply respectful of the game. But online, they’re something else entirely – combative, confrontational, and above all, boring.”
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